Communique A4 No 55 Christmas 2010 Internet

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deFerrers.COMmuniqué Evening of the Arts

Number 055 Christmas 2010

COMMUNICATING THROUGHOUT DE FERRERS SPECIALIST TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE principal@deferrers Dear Parents As you can see from this newsletter, a tremendous amount has happened this half-term. This is despite the extreme weather we have experienced!

I regret having to cancel or postpone events but we had little choice in the circumstances. The PSFA had worked so hard to prepare for the Christmas Fair and it was a difficult decision to cancel. Equally, the decision to postpone the “Celebration of Success” evening was not taken lightly. The event will now be held on Friday 7th January.

Fortunately, we were able to run our other main events with considerable success.

In the year that de Ferrers celebrates 25 years it is fitting that we look to the future and in particular “The de Ferrers Academy”. We have worked hard to secure the conversion from January 1st and if all goes according to plan the change will be seamless from that date.

There is still a lot to do but the move will secure considerable additional funding for de Ferrers art a time of major cuts in public services.

I am looking forward to spending even more time back at de Ferrers next term and working hard to establish the new academy. I would like to thank you for your on-going support this term and take this opportunity of wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year.

M A York Principal

Our annual Evening of the Arts concert certainly brightened up a dark and cold winter evening back in November. With over two hundred and fifty tickets sold in advance the evening was a resounding success.

Our musicians excelled themselves with excellent and very professional performances from our wonderful soloists, with special mention to Bekki Lycett and Megan SIner on the flute, Emma Margetson with her beautiful and stylish performance of a Debussy Arabesque and Sian with her lovely rendition of that Torvil and Dean favourite!! Also an amazing performance on the piano from Adil Zaidi left our audience astounded by his skill and virtuosity. De Ferrersʼs own Glee Choir gave a spectacular first ever performance along with 'Double Helix' our new contemporary band who, one day might be famous! (get your autograph now!)

The Sign Language choir as usual excelled themselves and our Senior Wind Band, Senior Wind Ensemble and DeFJO performed to their usual excellent standard.

Drama throughout the evening was superb with special mention to the Key Stage 3 Drama Club and all of the devised work which was very well received by our audience throughout the evening.

Evening of the Arts de Ferrers

Specialist Techn ology

College

PRESENTS

Friday 19th Novemb er 2010 7.30pm Trent Hall

Acts include: DeFJO, Drama Performances, Sign Language Club, Solo Wind Band, Dan ists, ce LICENSED plus Art Displays and many mor BAR e

Our art exhibition around the hall and throughout the evening was outstanding, displaying the variety of our enormous talent we have in this college.

★

A lovely contrast to all of this was provided by our very talented dancers who amazed us with their wonderfully choreographed moves.

To conclude, the whole evening was a fantastic display of all we have to offer from our wonderfully talented students in the Creative Arts Curriculum Area. Thank you to everyone who gave up their time and worked so hard to produce such an amazing evening.

Season’s Greetings from Governors, Staff and Students of the College

DE FERRERS IN PARIS - SEE PAGE 2

Communiqué

Nicaragua: not a regular college trip…

Itʼs pretty certain that the majority of you reading this will have heard about, seen photos of or have known somebody who went to Tanzania with World Challenge in the summer of 2010. If you havenʼt got a clue what World Challenge is, Iʼll sum it up. We, the new team members, are planning over the next twenty months for a three week expedition to Nicaragua in July 2012 where we will participate in a community project, for example helping to build or improve a school. We will also embark on a trek up volcanoes or through jungles.

However, this isnʼt a normal college run trip. Each individual person on our team wants to participate for his or her own reasons, and each person will have to raise the money required for the entire trip. This includes food, flights, equipment, vaccinations, accommodation and the supplies we will use to help people out there in the community and we need your help to raise the money we need! Another big difference is that we, the students, organise and run the expedition in Nicaragua. This involves making travel arrangements, booking accommodation, cooking on trangia stoves and most importantly…..holding the budget! As you can imagine, weʼll develop key life skills and an appreciation for the world around us over the next two academic years.

To achieve this we need your help! If you have any old clothes, shoes or curtains you donʼt want anymore, then you can donate them to the World Challenge Nicaragua Team!

We can raise money for every ton of materials we collect. You can pass them onto any member of the team, as below, or put them into a carrier bag and pop them into the blue clothes bank near the tennis courts on Trent Campus next time youʼre here.

Also, if you have any parents or links with businesses that could possibly help sponsor us, please let one of us know, or speak to either Miss Roberts, Mr Orchard or Mr Brown for more information on anything to do with the expedition. Any materials, help or ideas will be greatly appreciated!

Team Nicaragua:

Lauren Nally, Jess Gurney, Kireandeep Boughan, Sian Harlow, Aleema Ali, Frankie Gallone, Jamie Shilvock, Jak Machin, Dan Smith, Katie James, Jessie Rai, Hannah Knight, Daria Stepien, Bec Burt, Michael Gardiner, Calvin Lee, Olivia Bennett and Rachel Freeman.

Inclusive Learning Coffee Afternoon

Inclusive Learning hosted a successful coffee afternoon on November 11th, which was attended by parents from de Ferrers and feeder primary schools. They enjoyed superb refreshments, provided by our in house catering.

Books, displays and information were provided by the Autism Outreach Team members who supported the event and were available to talk to and advise parents.

A future date for your diary is the next coffee afternoon to be held from 2 – 3 pm on 14th February, Dove Campus, Harehedge Lane.

This will be supported by Parent Partnership and the theme will be transition. Please join us for a coffee and a chat.

Further plans include a coffee afternoon with a dyslexia theme to be held in the Summer term.

DE FERRERS IN PARIS

In the very early hours of the first Saturday of half-term sixty KS4/5 students set off by coach for Paris. The journey was uneventful save for the very autumnal crossing which churned a few stomachs but which was soon forgotten on arrival in the capital. You may remember that strikes were making vehicle fuel a rare commodity in France at that time and in addition to this the ʻrevoltingʼ French were taking to the streets with placards once more. Fortunately neither of these potential hazards marred our fantastic trip.

Indeed we were able to take in all the major sights as planned including Sacré Coeur and the Place du Tertre, the Arc du Triomphe, les Invalides, the Opéra Garnier, Notre Dame and, of course, the Eiffel Tower. We were very fortunate to enjoy good, clear weather for most of the trip. In the evenings we saw the sights and sounds of Paris by night including the lighting up of the Eiffel Tower at 9pm.

Students were able to practise their language skills particularly at lunch times when they set off to buy their

BOOKED UP

Booked Up is run by Booktrust, an independent charity dedicated to encouraging people of all ages and cultures to engage with books.

The aim of Booked Up is to inspire excitement about reading and discovering new books and authors. Year 7 students have just received their free book and we hope it encourages them to continue reading.

If you would like tips on how to encourage your child to read for fun, visit the Parentsʼ and Carersʼ space on the Booked Up website

www.bookedup.org.uk

own lunches; they were also able to take advantage of many of the obvious educational benefits inherent in a visit to a major capital city such as reappraising their views of what constitutes Art in the Centre Pompidou.

However, for those who preferred their cultural appreciation to be a little more transatlantic the day spent at Disneyland proved to be the highlight of the trip! (Fortunately the entertainments were presented in French and English.)

A splendid time was had by all!

Homework Club

Sinead Rustem won first prize in the after college Homework Club raffle which took place in October on Trent, and Samuel Hannibal won first prize on Dove.

Any student is welcome to come along to Homework Club on Trent Campus or Dove Campus after college, as we are open until 4.30pm every day.

Every time students come along to do homework or revision we will put a raffle ticket with their name on in a box. The raffle takes place every half term, so the more times they come along the more chances they have of winning. There are many different items to be won.

Communiqué

ARE YOU ELIGIBLE TO CLAIM FREE SCHOOL MEALS BUT DON’T!!

You will have heard that under new funding arrangements the government is allocating additional money to schools based on Free School Meals.

Many parents at de Ferrers donʼt claim their legal right to these meals.

From this April, every student who is eligible will attract £430 additional funding into de Ferrers. It is essential that we benefit from this funding. Please help your child and the college by claiming what is rightfully yours. If you require help in this matter, contact Trent reception and we will assist you.

There is a guide enclosed with this edition of our newsletter.

Senior Maths Challenge Success

In November, eighteen students studying Further Mathematics A Level took part in the Senior Maths Challenge.

This is a national competition where students answer twenty five multiple choice questions in one hour and thirty minutes.

An example of the kind of question students faced is: There are one hundred and twenty different arrangements of the five letters in the word ANGLE. If all one hundred and twenty are listed in alphabetical order starting with AEGLN and finishing with NLGEA, which position in the list does ANGLE occupy?

Over ninety five thousand students took part with roughly the top 6% receiving a Gold certificate, the next 13% Silver and the next 21% Bronze). Our students achieved the following fantastic results:

Gold Certificate - James Ward, David Nickson

Silver Certificate - Danny Baker, Kamal Manek, Alex Hall, Robert Stanyon

Bronze Certificate - Suzanne Menzies, Thomas Mcloughlin, Thomas Robinson, Alex Parker

Approximately, one thousand of the top students who are eligible to represent the UK at the International Mathematical Olympiad are invited to sit the follow-on competition, the British Mathematical Olympiad Round 1. Our very own James Ward was selected and weʼre just awaiting the results!

There was also a team competition where James Ward, David Nickson, Robert Stanyon and Eli Shaw represented de Ferrers in a regional heat.

Unfortunately, it wasnʼt to be our day and we didnʼt progress onto the national finals. However, the team finished mid table and did themselves proud.

PSFA Burton Slam Poetry Finals

On 11th November a group of students in Years 7 and 8 went to Burton Library to take part in the Burton Slam Poetry Finals. The students had written and performed some "rap" poetry during Reading Week with Dreadlock Alien, after watching him perform his own slam poetry and taking part in a workshop with him. Our students performed really well, being some of the youngest to participate. Dreadlock Alien personally congratulated them on their slam poetry techniques and their overall performance. Well done!

dFSLCCʻs Autumn Review

As Christmas approaches the de Ferrers Sign Language Club Choir has been rehearsing hard for the performances during the festive season.

We welcomed some new faces to the Choir this Autumn and our new members have worked very hard to fit in to the Choir and not only learn some of last yearʼs songs but also this yearʼs repertoire too; so, a big well done to them.

Our first performance was at Novemberʼs Evening of the Arts where the Choir performed Snow Patrolʼs Run during the first half and some interesting choreography resulted in the whole performance being very visual and quite stunning. In the second half they joined Glee Club in a joint performance of Gleeʼs version of the Cyndi Lauper classic True Colours another first for the Choir and a great performance from all involved.

As we go to print, the Choir will have performed at this yearʼs Senior Citizensʼ Party with their interpretations of ʻWeʼre Going on a Bear Huntʼ and the beautiful Christmas poem ʻTwas the Night Before Christmasʼ which will also be performed at the Year 7 Christmas Assembly.

During the last week of the term, the Choir will also have performed at the

Carol Concert in Trent Hall with a crowd pleasing performance of Bette Midlerʼs ʻFrom a Distanceʼ and will have followed that up with a repeat performance of ʻTwas the Night Before Christmasʼ at the Carol Service in St Johnʼs Church.

As sign language lessons and rehearsals generally take place on Dove, it has been difficult for our Year 10 students to make it and they have been missed greatly. Hopefully this can be rectified during the Spring Term as we begin our build up to ʻCelebrate in Sign 2011ʼ. Last yearʼs ʻCelebrateʼ evening was so popular that we are already making plans for our 2011 evening; so, if you missed it last year make sure you donʼt miss out this year!

With the departure of Miss Edwards in July, we did wonder how we would manage as she brought such a lot to the Choir and inspired the students to really push themselves to ever greater success; thankfully, Mrs Tunstall was a willing volunteer and required little persuasion to become more involved with the Choir. Miss Edwards has been missed by all but has promised to make guest appearances with the Choir when she is available.

We would like to thank you all for your continued support of the Sign Language Choir and the students who are really achieving tremendous success in this unique and difficult language and with their public performances.

We had the pleasure of running the bar at the Evening of the Arts in November.

This was an excellent evening of diverse entertainment and displays of work from some very talented students. We were a little caught out by the demand for wine which resulted in not one but two trips to the local store for supplies – thanks to everyone for their good humour and in particular to the gentleman who may or may not have donated a fiver to our cause purely because I could not remember what he gave me in the first place! All funds raised are ploughed back into the college in some form or other. Most recently we have pledged to donate £7,000 towards the cost of the recent refurbishment of the Food Technology room on Dove. Every £5 helps!

Sadly our annual Christmas Fair proved to be a casualty of the bad weather we have experienced over the last two weeks.

Planning for the Fair began in October and everything was in place including the programme printed, prizes and hampers ready, helpers lined up, cakes and mince pies baked and even Santa was ready to go, but the weather meant that it would have been too treacherous for people to travel to and from the event and the cancellation was a wise, if disappointing, call.

The Christmas Hamper Prize Draw is to be drawn at lunchtime on Friday 10th December and the winners notified asap. Copies of the programme will be distributed amongst Year 7 pupils and a copy will be posted on our website together with a list of sponsors and donors. A very big thank you to all our sponsors and prize donors! The majority of the prizes donated will form part of a Super Raffle at our next event which will be the Fashion and Pre-Prom Extravaganza in the early part of next year – watch out for posters with confirmation of the date.

So, may I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year!

Anita McLean Chair, PSFA

Communiqué

SPORT The poor weather has dominated the later stages of this half term and consequently led to the postponement of a number of planned events and fixtures this term. As a result, next term will prove to be a very busy one for all involved in sport at de Ferrers!

Despite the weather there have been a number of notable achievements by our students this term. Both the Year 10 and 11 Rugby teams won their Burton & District 10-a-side competitions, qualifying for the Staffordshire County Finals. At this competition both sides made it through to the semi finals following some fantastic team and individual play.

Unfortunately both sides were unable to go that extra step and reach the final but both sides can be proud of their top four county ranking.

The college traditional strength in Table Tennis seems to be continuing this year with both the Under 13 and Under 19 Boysʼ Teams winning their respective County Team Championships. The very strong Under 19 team of James Ward, Edward Freeman, Joe Byrne and Kamal Manek swept aside all teams comfortably in Stafford to take the title. The Under 13 competition in Stoke proved to be a much tighter affair but Liam Burt, Andrew Heathcote, Jack Prescott and George Hodson-Walker put in some fantastic performances to remain unbeaten throughout the competition and pick up yet another County Table Tennis title for the college. Both teams now qualify for the regional final in Bradford on Sunday 16th January where they will once again be hoping to qualify for the latter stages of the National Competition.

Many football and basketball games have had to be postponed until after Christmas because of the recent poor weather. Results of the games that were able to take place are shown below;

FOOTBALL

Year 7 5 - 1 Pingle (District Floodlit Cup)

BASKETBALL

Year 9 44 - 28 William Allitt (District League) Year 9 71 – 19 St John Fisher (County Cup)

Year 10 36 – 40 Howard (County Year 11 55 – 26 (District League) Year 11 52 – 53 (County Cup)

Blessed William Cup) William Allit St Josephʼs

YEAR 7 LEAGUE CHAMPIONS

Well done to the girlsʼ Year 7 Football Team who won the League Cup and now go onto represent Burton in the next round.

They were unbeaten in all six matches. Well done, girls, it was an amazing achievement.

The team consists of: Charlie Lee, Megan Bollington, Megan Wildman, Leah Pye, Maya Kyriacou-Moyes, Masie Ford, Chloe Hall, Kira Rai and Brooke Eves. They will collect their cup and medals during half time at a Burton Albion match. Well done, girls, we are all very proud of you.

YEAR 8 AND 9 GIRLS FOOTBALL

The Year 8 and 9 Girlsʼ Football Team has got off to a flying start this season. We have had such a fantastic turnout we have entered two teams in the league. Both teams are doing well in the league and de Ferrers are currently leading the league with just three matches to play. Unfortunately due to bad weather these have been postponed until after Christmas but I am sure we will continue with our winning ways.

The team consists of: Danni Coltman, Lucy Roach, Courtney Barlow, Mariah Archer, Hollie Lambe, Tiffany Fisher, Ellie Mafham, Rebecca Kendrick, Evie Pauley, Millie Bowering, Kira Banham, Amna Ali, Issy Sellors and Sian Wilkins. Well done girls you should be proud of your achievements - keep up the winning ways for the remaining games.

Clothes Show Live 2010

Both GCSE and A Level Textile students had an early start on Monday 6th December to travel to the bright lights of Birmingham to experience the 2010 clothes show. Students got involved in many of the competitions, trawled through an array of fabulous stores, got inspired by the creative university student exhibitions and inspiring workshops and met celebrities such as George Lamb. The whole day culminated in a huge, action packed show in the main theatre where top models showed off a variety of high street collections down a fun packed catwalk. Lots of fun, lots of inspiration…..a great day!

Music

As usual it has been a very busy term when it comes to Music. The first event of the year was actually held outside college, when DeFJO performed at the Town Hall as the closing act of this yearʼs ʻCelebrating Musicʼ festival, organised by the Burton Mail.

The following evening saw the return of the Evening of the Arts. A huge Trent Hall audience was thoroughly entertained with items taken from all parts of the Curriculum Area, including Music, Drama and Dance.

There was also a wonderful display of Artwork around the room and projected onto screens. It was great to see such a variety of entertainment showing the best of the talent on offer at the college.

The Christmas period is now on us. Unfortunately the recent adverse weather has seen a couple of events called off at the last moment.

However, music played a big part in the annual Senior Citizensʼ Party (Santa conducted the DeFJO!) We then followed this up with our annual Carol Concert in Trent Hall on Monday 13th, held in conjunction with a number of our Primary Partner Schools and, finally, the traditional Carol Service on Tuesday 14th in St Johnʼs Church, Horninglow.

Next term sees us going straight into audition season.

First up are the auditions for our production of ʻReturn to the Forbidden Planetʼ in July.

We then have the heats for the second ʻTalent of Tomorrowʼ competition, which was such a runaway success last year. Details will be available shortly into the New Year, but we can announce that the Grand Final will be held on Friday 11th February.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued success and wish you all a peaceful Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year.

G&T Update

Do your children have stories, poems, artwork, photos, or even just opinions that you think they should share with others? If so why not encourage them to register with Publishing House www.publishinghouse.me.uk

This website aims to showcase the work of students of all ages, and along with organising various competitions the organisers also award prizes every month for submissions they deem to be of a very high standard.

Congratulations to Emma Woodhall (now in Year 11) who recently won an award for her submissions of both the written word and photography.

The Gifted and Talented register continues to grow as students are regularly nominated by either members of staff or their parents for their achievements both inside and out of college. If you believe your child should be considered for the register please do not hesitate to get in touch.

MATHEMATICS SUBJECT SURVEY

The college recently took part in an Ofsted Mathematics subject survey, conducted by HMI Jane Jones, who is one of the lead advisory specialist inspectors for the Government.

The report will shortly be available on the website and the college has appreciated the observations which will be useful to us as we continue to develop Mathematics in the college.

de Ferrers Specialist Technology College Principal: Mr M A York BA (Hons) BEd MBA

Dove Campus Harehedge Lane Burton upon Trent DE13 0AS Telephone: 01283 239961 Fax: 01283 239971 Trent Campus St Mary’s Drive Burton upon Trent DE13 0LL Telephone: 01283 239936 Fax: 01283 239950 e-mail: office@deferrers.staffs.sch.uk

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